Poverty simulation shows grim realities | POLL

United Way signs on to '30 Days of Poverty'

She found herself suddenly 19 with a 1-year-old baby, no high school diploma and not enough welfare to pay her bills. Her 25-year-old boyfriend immediately left for work, so she wandered to the supermarket to buy food for her and the baby, then over to the “DFS” table to ask about her benefits.

“You need to fill out this form,” the receptionist said.

The whistle blew before she had finished filling out the form, indicating the end of the week. She and the baby had to go home.

Around her, the 30 other people attending Evansville’s first “Poverty Simulation” shuffled to their chair circles.

The role-playing event, hosted by the United Way of Southwestern Indiana and a part of the city’s “30 Days of Poverty” campaign, was held Thursday evening at First Baptist Church. It was designed to help people better understand the frustrations of the poor.

Vincent and the baby sat down in the circle of three chairs that represented the family’s mobile home. Her boyfriend — played by Eula Wilson, a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor from Henderson, Ky. — held a small wad of play money: wages for the week.

The couple looked toward the pile of cards in the middle of the chairs that represented their possessions. Someone had stolen their stove.

The whistle blew again, beginning Week Two. Wilson headed across the church’s community room toward her employer’s table. Vincent and the baby headed back to the “DFS” table to see the caseworker. They had to wait, the receptionist lost the paperwork, gave her the wrong form, then made them wait again. The baby started to fuss, Vincent hadn’t bought food that week.

She eventually left with extra food stamps, but the baby was crying louder. Vincent tried go to get more food, but didn’t have travel passes. She tried to buy more travel passes but didn’t have any cash, and no one seemed to know how she could use her TANF — welfare — card. In desperation, she stole a $20 bill someone had neglected to secure. But then the man selling the travel passes was busy.

“What?” she exclaimed. The baby started to cry again. “Can you please just help us out?”

Vincent shook her head as she walked away with her passes.

“I need a job, I need an education,” she said. “But it’s never going to happen.”

She suddenly laughed. “I was really frustrated there,” she said.

On the other side of the room, a woman who had been turned away from every service agency cried at the “pawnshop.”

A man who had been laid off from his job, turned to a crime ring. When he tried to escape, members planted stolen property on him, put him in jail and stole his last belongings. In week four they killed him as he tried to take his stuff back.

The whistle blew before Vincent made it to the supermarket.

Week Three started better. Vincent bought food and her stove back. But then she got final notices for rent and utilities and couldn’t pay without Wilson’s cash.

Week Four she had that cash, but still no one knew how to use her TANF. She tried to pawn their possessions, but the shop was closed. They got evicted.

“What?” Wilson called out from her employer’s table when she saw the overturned chairs. “We’re evicted? I gave you the money! What happened?”

She looked at the baby.

“This isn’t designed to let you make it,” she said. “I guess that’s real life.”